Why so many Tamil films are releasing on January 12, the Pongal day. We tried to trace the reasons behind it.

Sketch vs Thaana Serndha Koottam vs Gulaebaghavali: How does releasing big ticket films on the same day affect business?

Vikram’s Sketch, Suriya’s Thaana Serndha Koottam and Prabhu Deva’s Gulaebaghavali are releasing on January 12 to cash in on the festival weekend. The Pongal releases will be fighting it out at the box office.

The catch is that the increased ticket prices may stop the audiences from going to the theatres. In October, last year, the Tamil Nadu government decided to increase the ticket prices and now the producers may pay for it with lesser footfall.

Vikram and Suriya are among the biggest crowd pullers and this battle may eat up into the number of screens allotted to them. And then, Prabhu Deva is also there. On the contrary, in Kerala the two superstar films - TSK and Sketch - have got excellent distributors.

The two stars - Suriya and Vikram - also have a great fan base in Kerala. Wouldn’t it have been better if the movies had released on different days? We asked trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai and he said that many a time in Kollywood, ego comes above business sense. “The most important thing for a new movie is the first three days. If you have large number of screens, the probability of higher collections increases. However, with two big films releasing on the same day, neither of the film will get enough screens.”

He also observed that Telugu film industry has begun to space out their releases. He also adds that festival season (Pongal) is another reason why films clash at the box office. “When a film releases during festival season, it is believed that the collection is 10% higher. This used to be true from 80s to 2000s, but it might differ in the modern times. Also, this season has its own audience. People who might otherwise not step out to watch films would step into theatres during this time,” he explained.

When the blockbuster film Mersal had hit the screens, a small budget film also released called Meyaadha Maan. In an earlier interview, the director when asked why he was okay with releasing his film alongside a Vijay starrer had explained, “Any festival season, there is a big movie, and that was Mersal. Crowds throng the theaters to watch this film and people who do not get tickets choose the next option. Such crowd for two days will help small budget film collect enough at the box office to break even.”

Will the same logic help the Prabhu Deva starrer? Will TSK impress the audience to win the box office race or will Sketch entertain the audience into loosening their purse strings? We will have to wait and watch.